As hawkshaws intensify pursuit for undocumented foreign nationals sneaking into the country for unestablished businesses, 11 male suspects were rounded up in Kitale in an intelligence-led operation conducted by the DCI Operation Support Unit (OSU).
The 11 who were headed to Nairobi’s Eastleigh area from Uganda included three Kenyan men and eight Somalia and Uganda nationals, chauffeured in a Toyota Hiace.
This comes amid anti terror operations in the country and the region ahead of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US.
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. On that morning, 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners scheduled to travel from the East Coast to California.
During the Thursday operation, after fruitless efforts to slide away from the police shadow closing in on them, the vehicle driver pulled over in surrender, hence the arrest and detention of the suspects at Tarakwa Police Station.
The Anti-Terrorism Police Unit has since taken over interrogation of the suspects to establish their business in the country, giving chance to the possibility of the foreigners being victims of human trafficking.
Police say the anti terror operations are ongoing to tame any planned attacks in the country and region.
Meanwhile, the long arm of the law caught two individuals red-handed as they tried to butter up DCI officers with a hefty bribe of Sh179,000 to turn a blind eye to a notorious car theft suspect.
Eugene Kiprop Kipchirchir, 38, and Hillary Kiplangat Kibet, 40, thought they could pull a fast one on the police, but their plan went up in smoke when they were apprehended by officers from DCI Kondele.
These audacious culprits spun a web of lies, claiming to possess crucial information about a well-known fugitive involved in car theft.
However, their yarn quickly unravelled when they attempted to grease the officers’ palms with the hefty bribe to keep the fugitive from facing justice.
During the subsequent interrogation, the schemers spilled the beans, leading the officers to swoop down on a parking lot at Dondez restaurant and nab the main suspect, Rashid Oyondi Nyanuba, who was hiding inside an Isuzu double cab.
As a result of their ill-advised scheme, the culprits are now cooling their heels at Kondele Police Station, awaiting their date in court.
Cases of attempting to tip the scales of justice with underhanded tactics will be dealt with in accordance with the law, police said.
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